Rabbit Boy
by MissMassacre413
Summary: 'No,' Kazuma thinks, dodging the attack, 'I was done running years ago.' In which Kazuma is attacked. A prequel of sorts to 'I Hate High School'. T for extreme paranoia.


A/N: Alright, it's my second Summer Wars fic. My friend and I recently made a Kazuma RP page, so this is me trying to Kazuma. Feel free to tell me how I did! Also ulgh how write fight scenes. This really wasn't what I planned at all. Huh. I can't say I'm entirely displeased, though. Let's just hope Len likes it!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Summer Wars. I don't even have enough money for a can of Peace Tea, never mind a film.  
wait, wait, Maybe not Peace Tea, but I have enough for a cup of coffee.  
_

RABBIT BOY

An alarm blares in the dead silence, shocking a sleeping boy awake. He extends one arm and grasps wildly, trying to grab hold of the offending device. He manages, letting out a slight grunt of sleep-addled silence. The teen holds the phone close to his face, squinting his eyes against the harsh light. The screen gives him an option to 'dismiss' the alarm, or set it on 'snooze'. Naturally, he selects 'dismiss' and tosses the phone across the room. The boy groans and rolls over, bangs whose color he can't identify in the dark flipping over his face, tickling his nose.

"Kazuma?" he resists the urge to glare, it isn't his mother's fault Kazuma hates mornings, and he knows it. "Tsk, you were up on OZ all night, weren't you? You _knew_ school started today, get up! Come on, no complaining. And please don't be too loud. Your sister's still asleep." Before he can respond, his mother is gone, and Kazuma is left to face the morning.

He stumbles into the kitchen 20 minutes later, eyes still full of sleep. His mother is at the table, quietly sipping coffee over a book.

"Good morning," she greets.

"G'morning- you look tired," Kazuma notices, concern seeping into his voice. "how late were you up?"

"Later than you," his mother sighs, "And that's saying something. Don't you have to get going?"

The boy takes a glance at the clock, and '_Jesus,'_ his mother thinks, '_how can he see anything through that hair? I'll have to set up an appointment.'_

"Bye, mom!" he says, frantically grabbing his things. "Tell Majo I said goodbye when she wakes up!" A small peck on the cheek and Ikezawa Kazuma is charging out the door before his mother can even wish him luck.

It isn't so much that he's excited as it is that he doesn't want to get in bad on the first day of freshman year. He knows from past experience that the teachers will dislike him almost instantly. They won't like the look of him, the long hair, the big headphones around his neck, the bored look in his eye. They won't like that he doesn't look like he's paying attention when he is, or that he could completely goof off and still manage a high B in every class.

Since this is what he intends to do the rest of the year, Kazuma decides it's worth it to show up a little earlier on the first day.

Kazuma decides to ignore the rising sense of dread in his stomach, chocking it up to the fact that he skipped breakfast.

He knows it isn't.

He saw a lot of the kids from his class in OZ over break, which is to be expected. When people recognize you from the physical world, they're going to watch you battle on OZ. It's situations like these when Kazuma wishes his avatar, King Kazma, wasn't so well-known. It always led to problems in the real world.

He glances up to see the looming building of his school not too far ahead, with people he both recognizes and doesn't recognize swarming it's entrance.

"Here goes nothing," He grumbles, pulling the headphones off his ears. Loud electronic music pulses out, but nobody can hear it. It falls on the deaf ears of the students around Kazuma, as if he and his music are wrapped in a bubble, a bubble people cannot see, can penetrate, but cannot hear through.

'A bubble,' he thinks, allowing the smallest of smiles to grace his lips, 'sounds friggin' great.'

There are kids he knows in Homeroom, a few he's even friendly with. They exchange pleasantries, and one by one, the few scatter to greet others, and Kazuma is alone.

It is at lunch he decides that maybe this year won't be so bad, he'll just keep quiet and do his work, try to stay away from anybody who could possibly want to hurt him.

It is after school that the trouble begins.

Shit.

He realizes with a roll of his eyes that he thought too soon. Approaching currently are some kids who have been harassing him for years. Kazuma just can't understand why they keep coming back.

There are general calls of 'Loner!', and 'Loser!' When he doesn't stop walking, the insults are slightly less mature, slightly more wordy.

"Oh, Look at Ikezawa, he's so tough!" One calls.

"He thinks because his avatar online is strong that he is!" answers another.

The calling continues before Kazuma turns around, annoyed, and grumbles, "Are you going to fight me, or not?"

They almost don't respond.

The fist comes at him fast, but Kazuma manages to dodge. Barely. There are three kids, each far more bark than bite. He's got this. He'll just be home a few minutes late.

Sometimes, at times like these, when three kids are after him and he hardly has enough time to block one, Kazuma wishes it worked like OZ. He wishes he could jump and end up ten feet in the air, ready to attack his awestruck opponents as soon as he hit the ground. He sighs mentally and tries to make do with what he's got, which is mostly speed. Even with the lessons from his grandfather, it is almost reflex just to dodge, to run away.

There's a reason King Kazma is a rabbit. Rabbits are known for running away, for dodging instead of fighting predators. It's almost like some sick sort of irony, that the rabbit boy is staying to fight, denying his minds pleas to run.

'No,' he thinks, landing a punch to one boys' jaw, 'I was through with running years ago.'

Kazuma is fine, is winning, but even the best of the best get a little scratched sometimes. Three is hard to keep up with, and he's been trying to land everything. The small boy is tired, and the others can see it.

However, they are tired as well, and decide to call it tie.

"Fine, you win this once, Ikezawa. Don't go getting cocky on us, you're still just a little rabbit boy."

Two quick punches he just barely misses, one to the nose, one to the eye, and the attackers are gone.

"Great,' Kazuma grumbles, "Now I'll have worried mother."


End file.
